Seven Days
by ShyRomantic
Summary: When the family decides to go on vacation Charlie discovers a lot can happen in seven days. No Blackout AU.
1. Getting There

**Surprise! Normally I try not to post two times in one day, but I really couldn't wait on this one, I wanted to wait also until the second chapter was more fleshed out but like I said can't wait. So I didn't think I'd have internet here at the in-laws their wifi is a total joke, apparently it all depends on where someone is standing in the house... Le sigh... See you at the bottom!**

"Danny! Hurry up, seriously you are the slowest!" Charlie shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh my god!" Danny shouted back. "Would you chill out!" Danny's head popped out from behind a wall as he shouted the last part.

Charlie had moved to Chicago not long after graduating for two reasons, one she was accepted to a school of arts there and two she wanted to be closer to her uncle Miles. She and her mom had never really gotten along given her mothers inherent favoritism of Danny, so when Miles suggested she come out to Chicago she jumped on it, he'd given her a job at the bar he owned with Bass. she'd been there a few years now and at twenty-three she still worked there but she was serving drinks behind the bar now, a huge step up from the start of busing tables. The whole family had decided to go for a vacation and Mexico was where they had decided they would go, so the week before they left Danny went to Chicago to stay with Charlie, it was pretty well-known that being anywhere near Rachel and Ben before a big vacation was a huge nightmare so Danny escaped early.

"Miles is going to be here any minute to get us and if we miss this flight I swear Danny I will kill you!" Charlie shouted again.

"Holy crap. Charlie I know!" Danny appeared pulling his suitcase behind him.

"Finally, There is breakfast on the counter eat fast." Charlie said taking his suitcase from him as he reached the bottom of the stairs."

"What's your rush?" Danny asked stuffing his face with toast.

"I just want to get out of here, I want to be where the drinks are free and the sun is warm." Charlie said sitting next to her brother, stealing a corner of his toast she popped it in her mouth. The buzzer rang and Charlie got up to let Miles in. "Come on up." She hit the release button and hung up the phone. Charlie had just sat back down with Danny when the door opened.

"Hey!" Miles shouted from the door. "We're here."

"We?" Charlie questioned

"Yah we, Bass is coming with." Miles said rounding the corner, Bass appeared behind him giving Charlie and Danny a two fingered salute in greeting.

"Miles just couldn't be without me so he begged me to come along." Bass said giving the siblings a wink.

Charlie laughed as Miles smacked Bass while Danny rolled his eyes. "So bad news, my car is in the shop so I had to bring my truck, and since Bass is apparently to much of a man's man to own a car he has his truck to, so we're going to have to split up our stuff and meet at the airport." Miles explained sitting next to Danny stealing a piece of his bacon.

"Hey, that was mine." Danny pouted at Miles.

"You can have it back, or you can quit your whining." Miles said holding out a now tiny piece of bacon, Danny grabbed the tiny bacon and tossed it in his mouth smiling at Miles. "Smart-ass." He said rolling his eyes at his nephew. "You guys got everything you need?" Miles turned to Charlie who nodded back at him. "Awesome well I have your tickets here." Miles pulled the tickets from his pocket and handed them out to the three waiting hands.

"Who am I sitting with?" Charlie asked inspecting her ticket.

"What seat are you?" Danny asked glaring at Miles who had just stolen another piece of bacon. "Seriously dude."

"A20." Charlie replied ignoring the smacks being shared between uncle and nephew.

"Guess I'm your travelling buddy." Bass said showing Charlie his ticket.

Charlie smiled up at him. "That's good, didn't really want to be stuck with either of these two." She said backing away from them.

Bass laughed and leaned across the counter also stealing a piece of bacon from the distracted Danny. Charlie giggled trying not to draw attention to Bass' thievery, her efforts were pretty much in vain the moment Miles outted him.

"Hey!" Miles said pointing at his best friend, Danny turned and swatted at Bass' hand.

"Guys come on! Stop eating my breakfast!" Danny said grabbing his plate and holding it away from Robin and Little John.

"Chill out." Charlie said echoing Danny's words from earlier. "I made more." She turned and grabbed the plate of bacon plopping down on the counter between the three men. "Go for it, I ate while waiting for his royal highness." Charlie grinned at her brother.

The three didn't waste anytime devouring Charlie's well made breakfast. "We should probably head out guys. our flight is in three hours and with you three creepy looking dudes we might get searched so we should go a little early." Charlie said lifting her bag over her shoulder.

"She's right, you two are just asking to get strip searched." Bass said crossing his arms smiling at the hurt looks on Miles and Danny's faces, Charlie giggled behind him. "You with me travel buddy?" Bass asked turning to Charlies smiling face.

"Only if you stop calling me that." Charlie raised her eyebrow at him.

"Don't see that happening anytime soon but I can try." Bass winked at her. "Where's your stuff we can toss it in my truck." He followed Charlie down the hall to the closet by the door.

"In here." Charlie yanked the doors opened and revealed her large suitcase.

"Planning on moving there?" Bass asked eyeing up the huge case.

"It's not full, I usually want to bring stuff back so I got a bigger suitcase so I'd have room." She said pulling it from the closet.

"Smart, never would have thought of that." Bass said moving out-of-the-way. "Here let me take it." Bass wrapped his fingers around hers as he pulled the suitcase from her grasp, Charlie yanked her hand out from under his and stepped back. Bass looked down at her perplexed and she just stared up at him, just then Danny and Miles appeared behind them Danny's suitcase in hand and bags slung over shoulders.

"Everything ok?" Miles asked coming to a stop, Danny how ever looked between the two and realization dawned over his face.

"Yah, fine." Charlie smiled at her uncle. "Come on, time to go." Charlie opened the front door and stepped out waiting for the group of people to vacate her home, Danny and Miles walked down the hall shoving each other as they went. Charlie turned to lock her door holding the handle a moment longer she let out a long breath.

"You coming?" Charlie jumped at the voice behind her, whipping around Bass stood smile gracing his features with a raised eyebrow.

"Yup." Charlie plastered a smile on her face. "Vacation time can't wait." Charlie threw her head back and headed down the hall. "Come on mister times wasten'."

Once outside Charlie stopped to follow Bass to his truck and watched and he tossed her bag in the back with his before moving to the driver's side. "Getting in?" One of his legs was up in the cab door hanging open as he looked over the roof sun shining in his blonde hair.

"Yup one second." Charlie went to the back of the truck and hauled her carry on bag into the back making sure nothing was going to fly out the open back. She hopped into the passenger side and slammed the heavy door behind her. "Lets see if we can beat Danny and Miles there." She wiggled in her seat getting comfortable.

"I think we can do that." Bass turned the key and his engine roared to life, he pulled the truck up beside Miles' and waved to him. "See you there." And with that Bass tore out of the parking lot leaving Danny and Miles still standing next to the truck.

Charlie reached over and started fiddling with the radio dials. "Does your radio not work?" Charlie asked twisting the knob side to side.

"Nope, I usually plug my phone into it, I've got better music then the radio anyways." Bass reached across Charlie and popped the glove compartment open, pulling a cord out her handed it to Charlie. "Here just plug your phone it should just start when you press play." He was watching the road or he would have seen the pink that was spreading across her face as his arm brushed across her bare leg.

"Ok." Charlie look the cord from his fingers and plugged in her phone and started up her music. The song hummed to life over the speakers and Charlie settled back knees up on the dashboard eyes closed. Bass glanced over and admired the content look on her face, smiling to himself he looked back at the road.

"ETA fifteen minutes if the traffic is good. when we get there we should check our bags and head right to security give ourselves time to get coffee on the other side. sound good?" Bass asked risking another glance at the girl beside him.

Charlie hummed back in response. "Sounds like the ideal plan." Her eyes were still closed, she'd opened the window and was enjoying the breeze running across her face.

fifteen minutes later Bass was pulling into the airport long term parking. "Up and attem' travel buddy." Bass said shaking her knee slightly to get her attention, Charlie sprung to life sitting up suddenly. The two jumped out of the cab and headed to the back of the truck. Bass was securing his carry on back over his shoulder when Miles and Danny pulled in beside them. "'Bout time!" Bass shouted at the pair getting out.

"Well you kind of drive like a crazy person." Danny said raising his hands in defence. "We wanted to get here alive."

"Well hurry up we have a plan and we want to stick to it." Bass said grinning at Charlie who nodded back in affirmation.

Danny and Miles both rolled there eyes at the pair watching them impatiently. "You two are going to be the worst to travel with aren't you?" Miles asked exasperated.

"Most definitely" Charlie laughed back.

"Wait Danny where are our seats?" Miles asked turning to Danny as he pulled out their bags.

Danny pulled there tickets from his bag. "Were at the front a full fifteen rows between us." Danny sighed with relief. "Thank-god if I had to listen to them the whole flight I was going to throw them out the emergency hatch." He said dramatically holding the back of his hand to his forehead.

"Har-har funny man, get your shit let's go." Charlie glared at him.

The four of them checked there bags and headed to the security check point, none of the boys of pulled aside but Charlie did and got her bags searched which brought much laughter from the three of them as they stood off to the side waiting for her.

"I can't believe I got searched!" Charlie said flopping down into the cafe's table coffee in hand. "Do I look suspicious to you!" She asked turning to Miles.

"No, but you are travelling with three men, they're going to target you as you are the least likely looking." Danny said laughing as he sitting in the chair next to Charlie's

"Ugh." She scowled into the table which she now had her head resting on. "This isn't fair, you guys don't need ammunition."

"Aww come on, it was kind of funny." Bass flipped his chair around and sat next to Charlie. "Here." He said holding out a giant cookie, Charlie raised her head slightly and looked at the cookie. "Baked goods make everything better."

Charlie took the cookie and smiled at him. "Thanks Bass." She pulled a piece off and handed it to him as she took a bite. "Delicious."

Bass took the piece and popped it into his mouth smiling. "Everyone got there drinks?" He said looking around. "We should probably head to the gate they're going to board soon."

The four strapped their bags back on and grabbed their coffee's heading to the gate. When they arrived they noticed a line was already forming so they jumped into line as well.

"Well, we'll see you guys on the other side." Charlie said as they passed the already seated Danny and Miles, who responded by waving and smiling cheekily at them. Charlie slid into the window seat Bass following closely. "What kind of flyer are you?" Charlie asked after she'd done her belt and settled in.

"I'm alright I guess, not a lot bothers me anymore, you know the whole army thing, spent a lot of time in planes and being jerked around so planes are kind of a non-issue for me." He said shrugging.

"Fantastic." Charlie grinned at him.

"Why?" Bass asked curiously.

"I'm a horrible flyer, I hate heights, and any amount of bouncing around makes me want to vomit." Her grin grew.

Bass just started at her looking for any signs that she was joking, it was then that he realized what the cheeky grins and waves were about from Danny and Miles. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. I promise you won't get sucked out a window or anything." He patted her head in reassurance.

"Oh gee thanks... I hadn't even thought of that fabulous." She scowled and thunked her head against the back of the seat in front of her as Bass laughed.

"I'm sorry, I was kidding." Putting his hand on the back of her head he tried to calm her nerves. "I'm right here, I swear nothing will happen to you." His voice coming out soft and soothing.

Charlie didn't answer but she sat back and closed her eyes. "Let this just be over and let me be sitting in the sun."

Bass didn't get to respond as the flight attendants come over the speakers and started their demonstrations, both sat and watched and hadn't even noticed that the plane had started to taxi towards the take off destination. The engines get louder and that's when the panic races across her face and she white knuckles the arm rest.

"Here." Bass holds out his hand and Charlie gladly and without thinking takes it, Bass squeezes her hand and she relaxes a bit. "Everything will be fine Charlie." Bass says soothingly. "Soon we'll be in the sun and we'll get a drink in your hand, sound good?" He's looking directly at her trying to keep her eyes locked with his as the plane speeds up. Charlie nods at him slowly, the plane reaches the end of the runway and they're in the air. Charlie closes her eyes again and holds her breath. "We got this Charlie." Soon the plane is level and Charlie opens her eyes and lets out the air she's been holding. She looks over at Bass and smiles, Bass smiles back and releases her hand. "Try to sleep, it'll make this go way faster." He smooths his hand over her arm as she nods at him, he raises the armrest between them to let Charlie lean against him and she closes her eyes again and tries to nod off.

Bass leans back into his chair and nods off as well.

**What did you think? worth continuing? Let me know. Love you all :) Leave me some love! Also Let me know about any mistakes or continuity errors.**


	2. Day 1

**Evening my lovlies! Chapter two of Seven Days! Read on I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing this chapter see you at the bottom!**

Charlie woke with a start to the plane jolting beneath her, looking out the window she saw nothing but complete whiteness, panic starting to rise in her chest she almost didn't notice the pressure around her hand. Charlie looked to the side and saw Bass' worried face looking back at her.

"You ok?" Bass asked concern in his voice.

Charlie tried to smile back at him in reassurance but was foiled by heavy rattling in the plane. "I'm trying to be, how far are we?"

"We're about twenty minutes from landing, the bumping is just us coming down." He said running his thumb across the back of her hand. Charlie looked down at there entwined fingers

and smiled faintly, her heart fluttered a moment before it started hammering as the plane dipped down farther. "Look out the window." Bass said leaning towards her and point at the small window. Charlie did as told and gasped at the sight below her, she expected brown and gold desert but saw different shades of green plants and brightly coloured houses below. Turning back to Bass with a grin plastered on her face all fear and apprehension gone from her features.

"It's beautiful!" She exclaimed staring back out the window. "I want to see it all!" Her voice was quiet with amazement. Bass was happy to distract her for a moment, he hoped it would last. The plane rattled again as it started lowering itself even farther, Charlie how ever didn't seem to notice as much, her hand tightened around his but the smile never wavered from her face as she watched the world below her.

"Excited yet?" Bass asked leaning into her ear.

"You have no idea." She whispered back not turning her head. "What's the first thing you're going to do?" She asked in her whisper.

"Get a drink and walk on the beach." His voice was soft in her ear.

"That sounds nice." She replied still watching world outside. Her hand gripped his as the plane dipped lower.

"We're about to land, you ready?"

Charlie turned and looked into Bass' bright blue eyes and smiled at him. "Only because you're here with me."

Bass' eyes went wide in surprise before a smile took over his face, lifting their hands he squeezed her hand. "Let the adventures begin."

They both turned to look out the window as the world suddenly came up to meet them, the wheels bumped against the asphalt as Charlie closed her eyes again, the plane slowed to a taxi and the passengers erupted in applause as the captain announced they're arrival.

"We made it." Bass said releasing her hand for the first time since take off.

Charlie and Bass grabbed their stuff and walked past Miles and Danny who were still trapped in their seats by all the people shoving each other down the aisle. Charlie stuck her tongue out at the boys as she went by, little did she know Bass had done it as well. Stepping off the plane Charlie was nearly floored by the sudden heat that greeted them.

"Holy crap." She heaved.

"No kidding, I'm feeling like my attire was a terrible choice." Bass looked down at himself, he was dressed in dark jeans and a tee-shirt and a long sleeved button down over it.

"Well... Yah not a good choice but you look good?" She tried to offer shrugging, Charlie on the other hand was dressed in dark blue jean shorts and a hot pink tank top so she was more comfortable then him.

"We should probably wait for the other two hey?" Bass said glancing behind them.

"Sure, lets move over I have to text mom to let them know where here so they can meet us at the resort." Charlie said dropping her bag along the wall.

"How long have they been here?" He asked looking around for Danny and Miles.

"They got here yesterday, Danny has his room under their name so we gotta make sure they know so we don't end up with a cranky Danny." Charlie said fingers tapping on her phone.

"Danny gets cranky?" Bass questioned looking at her.

"Like you wouldn't believe. There was this one time when we were camping, his blow up mattress must have deflated or something in the middle of the night because the next morning when we were getting breakfast he was so cranky and grumpy you could almost see a dark cloud following him around. I stand by the animals were to afraid to come near our site because of him." She finished shoving her phone in her pocket.

"Are you making things up about me again Charlie?" Danny said stopping next to his sister.

"Who? Me? never." She held a hand over her chest in mock hurt. "I can't believe you'd think I would ever lie about you baby brother. I only ever tell the truth." Charlie winked at her brother before looking around. "Hey where is Miles?"

"Still on the plane." Danny replied simply.

It was Bass who responded this time. "Why is he still on the plane? Is everything ok?"

"He's fine, a little annoyed but he's fine. Somehow, still a mystery how." Danny said grinning playfully raising his hands. "But his bag exploded, everything in it fell out during the flight in the over head compartment."

"Danny what did you do." Charlie said eyeing her brother suspiciously.

"Nothing... But I maaaaaay have left it open when I put his book back." Danny smiled sheepishly at the two before him.

Charlie and Bass just stared at him, a sea of blank faces all around.

"He deserved it and I stand by it, he tortured me the whole flight here!" Danny pouted defensively.

"Karma, it's gonna kick your ass kid." Miles smacked the back of Danny's head as he appeared, Bass and Charlie tried to suppress their laughter.

"Come on, I wanna get out of here and get a drink."

the crew of four grabbed their bags and headed to the resort, once there they met up with Rachel and Ben, both of whom exclaimed surprise and delight at seeing Bass among them.

"Decided to tag along?" Rachel asked as Bass got his wristband snapped on.

"You know Miles, he can't go anywhere without me." Bass winked at her. "Seriously though, I was in need of a vacation and apparently Miles thought so to, so here I am. Hope it's ok I crashed your family time." He said worry slipping on to his face.

"Bass of course it's ok, you ARE family. I'd be more surprised if you weren't here." Rachel laughed. "Come on, we have a table over by the beach."

"Thanks." Bass smiled at her. "Mind if I dump my bags off in my room though? I really need to get changed I'm dying a little bit." He gestured to his clothes.

"Are you insane by any chance?" Ben asked from behind him.

"I might be, but it was a little chillier in Chicago then it is here." Bass and Ben both laughed. After Bass changed into a pair of long board shorts and a light t-shirt he joined the rest of the family. Charlie spotted him from across the walk way and waved him over.

"Hey, you look more comfortable." Charlie laughed as Bass grabbed the chair across from her and sat down.

"You have no idea." Bass smiled at her. Miles' hand appeared in front of Bass as he placed a drink before him.

Miles plopped down into the chair next to his brother. "Thought you might like to start with a rum and coke, take it slow."

"Thanks man." Bass downed half of the small cup and set it back down. "These are tiny though, I don't think going slow is going to an issue." He spun the cup gently in his hands.

Charlie spoke up next. "So what's the plan? do you guys have group fun times planned or are we all just kind of winging it?" She asked taking a sip of her own drink.

"Well." Rachel piped up. "We weren't sure what you guys wanted to do." She said giving her kids the stink-eye. "Danny left so early that we didn't really get a chance to ask."

Miles snickered beside Ben, then coughed guiltily trying to cover it up when his brother shot him a look. "Sorry."

"We were thinking that if no one had any definite plans we might good and see what kind of stuff the activity place has to offer. We already looked at a few things, they've got zip lining tours and horseback trails and stuff we can go check out." Ben pulled out one of the travel pamphlets Bass had noticed in the room.

Danny took the paper and looked it over. "The zip-lining sounds fun, I'd be down for that." he said reading it.

"I'd love to do the riding." Charlie said spying over her brothers shoulder.

"I'd go for that. Bass said sipping his drink. "I haven't ridden since before we left for our first tour." Miles nodded back at him in agreement.

"Me to, the trails out here must be pretty fantastic." Miles stood up. "Anyone want another drink?" he asked waving his hand around, Danny, Charlie and Bass raised their hands.

"Well your dad and I wanted to do the zip-lines as well, mind if we go as the three of us?" Rachel asked her son.

"Yah for sure." Danny smiled at her. "Is it to late to book this stuff? I kind of want to go tomorrow." Danny asked hopeful.

"Not at all, it is a pretty much all day thing though wont have much time for anything else tomorrow." Rachel sipped her drink.

Danny leaned back in his chair and downed the last of his little drink. "That's cool with me." He smiled a content smile at no one in particular.

Miles reappeared placing the drinks in front of everyone. "So what's the plan?" He flopped back into his chair getting comfortable. He watched as Danny, Charlie and Bass just stared at their drinks unsure of what to do. "What?" He asked them.

"What is this?" Charlie asked skeptically.

"Miles this is neon green." Danny leaned down face close to the table inspecting his drink.

"I'm pretty sure it's glowing." Bass picked it up and turned it around to get a look at it.

"It's fine, just drink it." Miles downed a bit of his own colourful drink.

All three of them then held the cups before them and shared a momentary worried look. "To mexico." They said touching their cups together and all three slammed the drinks back.

"Hey not bad." Danny was the first to respond.

"considering my insides might be glowing that was pretty delicious." Charlie said laughing, Bass stacked up the empty cups and grinned at Miles in approval.

"Pretty good, what was it?" Bass asked leaning back into his chair.

"No idea." Miles shrugged a smirk playing on his lips.

The rest of the table broke into laughter, The group sat and enjoyed stories and laughter as the sun started to set. Rachel had disappeared some time after the mystery drinks and booked all their trips for the next day.

after a couple hours of sitting around chatting and laughing Danny said he was tired and went up to his room, Rachel agreed it was probably time to head off since they had to get up early the next morning so her and Ben disappeared half an hour later. Miles some how had managed to get himself righteously drunk and Bass had to drag him up to his room and toss him in bed leaving Charlie sitting alone at the table drink in hand watching the waves roll into the beach, a content smile playing on her lips.

Charlie was still sitting in her spot sipping her drink when Bass pulled up a chair beside her. "Not going to bed?" He asked sipping his own newly acquired drink then setting down on his now jean clad knee.

"Not yet, I don't generally sleep a lot so I could be up for a couple more hours." She said watching the ocean.

"Its nice out here." He looked out at water having a sudden calm come over him.

"Yah, I'm glad I decided to come." She replied quietly.

Bass turned his head slightly to look at her. "You didn't want to come?"

Charlie nodded her head slightly not looking at him. "I couldn't really afford it, with school and rent I didn't really want to spend money I didn't have to if I could avoid it." She shrugged explaining.

"You pay for school?" Bass asked shocked. He knew that Rachel and Ben were both fairly important scientists for the government, so he'd be surprised if they couldn't afford to send Charlie to school.

"Mhm..." When she didn't elaborate he glanced back at the water. "I wanted to study art, and neither of my parents really think it's a feasible life choice, they think I won't make enough money to live and be happy if I'm pursuing this particular venture." Her voice was soft, no hint of anger or frustration, just acceptance. "But art is what makes me happy. With it I can make people's lives a little brighter, make the world a more beautiful place." She smiled as she said the last part.

Bass watched her, in complete awe of the girl beside him. For someone so young she knew what she wanted and that inspired him a little.

"It's not just about making the art and making pretty pictures though, with this kind of career if that's what you want to call it, I can travel. Paint what I see, sketch whats around me, photograph the beautiful world we live in, write about our experiences while on the road. And when I'm out there, I can actually help people. I can go to another country and help people in Africa build houses and school, I can go to parts of our own country that have been devastated by disasters and help the people there rebuild their lives."

Bass just stared at her as she talked, unsure of what to say he just left her continue. He never knew this side of her, He never knew that this is what she was about.

"So I decided that when I graduated Highschool I would pay for school, and my own living by myself. I wasn't going to let anyone decide for me what I should do, because if I did that." Charlie stopped and sighed a little. "I wouldn't be myself, and I wouldn't be happy if I wasn't doing this for me. It's why I moved to Chicago, Miles was the only one who really understood what this all means to me. He's the reason I'm here." She smiled and huffed a little laugh to herself.

He raised an eyebrow in question, to which she giggled softly. "He paid for this trip for me. I told him no, that I'd figure it out, if not I was totally ok with staying at the bar, I told him I could actually get work done with him gone." She laughed to herself. "But the idiot went and booked everything for me, I told him I wouldn't show up, but when Danny showed up at my door a week ago I knew I had to come. He doesn't know it but I will pay him back every cent for this trip."

Bass had turned so he was mostly facing her. "You're a pretty amazing person you know."

"What? How?" She asked curiously looking at him.

"You remind me so much of what Miles was like at your age. He was so much about making the world a better and safer place for people. He couldn't stand how much horrible shit was going on in the world and he wanted to fix it all. His parents were so against him joining the army that they didn't talk to him for almost 5 years after he signed up, they started talking to each other again just before we got sent out on our first tour." It hurt him to talk about it like it had happened to him, Miles and Ben were his brothers and having the parents he'd come to think of as his own do something like that to Miles made him ache.

"I'm sure you know the stories about Miles and I when we were younger. When my family died Miles was the first person to try and make the pain and hurt go away, he never gave up on me. That includes dragging my sorry ass all over the east fighting the bad guys." He smirked. "I think that's why Miles understands you so well, you're both the black sheep of the family. You'd rather make the world a happier place for everyone around you then become some slave to a huge company that only makes money they'll never get a chance to spend."

Charlie smiled at him as he spoke, she didn't know all that stuff about them. She felt a flutter in her chest as Bass told her about their past. The flutter was intensified by the understanding and support he was giving her, she suddenly wanted to know more about him.

"Never let someone tell you what to do Charlie, live your life the way you want, and be happy doing it." he grasped her hand as a sign of reassurance. "I'm getting restless though, you want to go for a walk?" he asked pulling his hand back, both feeling the sudden loss but neither realizing it.

"I'd love to." Charlie said smiling at him and standing, she swayed a bit as she got up.

"You ok?" Bass asked standing next to her placing a hand on her shoulder.

Charlie looked up at him and gave him a small smile. "Yah, I'm fine. I just haven't stood up in hours, those drinks were stronger then I thought." She laughed.

Bass smiled back. "You want to just go to bed?" He asked watching her.

"No, no. A walk will help, come on." Charlie turned away from him and stepped down the stairs. Bass' hand dropped to his side as he watched her walk away, her long hair blowing in the light breeze. He'd never really looked at her before, but knowing what he knew about her now made him see her in a whole new way. She wasn't that little girl with pig-tails and ice cream all over her face anymore, she was a woman who had dreams of a better world and a way to do it.

Charlie looked back and noticed Bass hadn't moved. "You coming?" She asked cocking her head to the side as she brushed some hair over her ear smiling at him.

He smiled back at her as he hurried down the steps. "Sorry, was thinking about something."

Charlie looped her arm around his as he lead the way slowly down the beach. "Must had been serious, you looked pretty intense." She said quietly.

"Nah, nothing to serious. My brain just takes a little more to think." He said smirking and winking at her.

Charlie laughed and Bass smiled as they made their way down the beach. Charlie leaned against his arm as they walked, both seemed lost in though, neither realizing the other was thinking about them.

**So? what did you think? **

**Charlie's views on art and life are my own, this is how I feel about what I do and would like to do. Her parents don't feel teh same as mine though, mine have been nothing but supportive, this unfortunately is some what how my boyfriend feels, his parents are both very intelligent ****scientists who have done very well for themselves so they question why I would chose to go down a much harder path in my life. They don't look down on it but are rather confused by my life choice, and sadly this is how most people react when I tell them I'm an artist, so when I started writing this story it purely started out as an outline of my trip and somehow Charlie morphed in a little bit of me.**

**So in saying that I'm sorry it took such an intense turn but I thought it might help spark the interest between them.**

**I always, always, always love the reviews I receive from you lovely people. I thrive off the comments I get from you, they feed my stories like you wouldn't believe.**


	3. Day 2

**Here is Day 2! Sorry it's taken so long, I hope I didn't disappoint!**

Bass woke the next morning to a pounding in his head, or at least that's what he thought at first. The pounding was actually on his hotel door. Finally managing to drag himself out of bed he pulled on his jeans from the day before that he'd left on the chair and opened the door to yell at the person on the other side.

Charlie stood in the hall smiling at him, the smile faltered slightly as she caught sight of the man before her. "Uh, hi." She said staring at him.

"Hi." Bass said stunned out of his anger. "What's wrong?" He asked obliviously.

"Uh, nothing. Miles is waiting downstairs, we're supposed to leave in just under an hour for that horse riding thing, we thought maybe we should eat before we go." Charlie said.

"Oh, what time is it?" Bass asked glancing behind him before he remembered there was no clock.

"Ten after eight." She said quickly eyeing up the man-candy before her.

Bass turned back and raised an eyebrow at her in question. "Seriously are you ok? You look like someone smacked you." Bass asked concerned, it was just as he asked that he realized what he must look like. looking down he noticed for the first time that he was standing in only his jeans which he hadn't even bothered to do up before opening the door. Looking back up at Charlie he was struck by the look she was giving him.

"I'm so sorry." he said turning around quickly and doing his pants up and stepping farther into the room to his suitcase. flicking open the top he grabbed the first shirt he found and tugged it over his head, completely unaware that Charlie was watching the muscles in his back stretch and flex.

"Think this'll be to hot?" He asked turning around and assessing Charlie's attire. She was dressed in dark blue pants that ended at her knees and a lavender tank-top.

"Should be ok, the guide person downstairs said we might get pretty wet, but in this heat that might not be a problem." She laughed. "Come on, Miles was getting us a table for breakfast." Charlie stepped back as Bass joined her in the hall.

The two finally found Miles munching away on his breakfast at a corner table.

"Sorry, someone was still asleep." Charlie said plopping down in her seat.

"I didn't know what time we were supposed to be leaving in my defence. And how is Miles functional this morning? He was pretty much passed out when I got him to his room last night." Bass asked pointing at the fully awake and smirking person in question.

"I'm fine because I'm the master. You should know this Bass." Miles picked up a piece of bacon and took a bite smiling at his brother.

"Yah, yah, what ever. get food?" He asked turning to Charlie.

"Sure, we gotta make it quick though." She said standing up and moving around the table, turning back to Miles she leaned in slightly. "If that waiter guy comes back can you ask for an orange juice for me?" she asked batting her eyelashes at him.

Bass smirked and requested a drink as well, Miles just rolled his eyes and waved them away. The three of them rushed through their breakfasts in record time.

Grabbing their bags they headed to the shuttle that would take them up into the mountains. Charlie climbed into the shuttle a slid into the seat by the window Miles sliding in beside her, Bass sat in front of them next to a Greek man, the only other person on their tour evidently. It took nearly an hour to get to the mountains, but there were many things to see, they passed through a town and the guide slowed to tell them the history and about the locals.

Charlie spent most of the trip up watching the terrain go by and pointed out some of the interesting things she saw along the way, Miles mostly entertained himself by listening to the Greek man chatter away at Bass in his broken English. When they finally arrived the first thing they noticed was how much cooler it was at the ranch then it was down at the resort.

"Hola!" A young Mexican man greeted them as they all hopped out of the shuttle, he extended a hand to Charlie two took it and smiled at him. "Any of you speak spanish?" He asked looking around at his group, they all shook their heads sheepishly. "Ah, that's alright, I grew up in New York." He laughed as he lead them to a small building. "You can store your things in here if you like, I'd suggest it, the trails we're going to take might make your stuff pretty wet." He stood in the door as the four of them filed into the room and found themselves lockers. "I'm going to go make sure everything is set up then we'll head out." He disappeared out the door and the four were left stuffing their lockers and looking around.

Charlie headed outside and found a small playground area, it was probably for the kids who couldn't sit still during the lunch hour. Seating herself on one of the swings she rocked back and forth slowly admiring the trees and plants that grew nearby, she almost didn't register it when Bass settled himself into the swing next to hers.

"Nervous?" He asked digging his heels into the sand. Charlie turned her head and smiled at him.

"Hardly, I grew up riding horses. My mom's parents had horses until a couple years ago."

Bass swung back and forth gently as he watched Charlie smile at her memories, he also watched as she reached up to her head and fumbled with her long hair trying to braid it.

Charlie's hands were swatted away from her head as Miles came up behind her and skillfully braided her long hair. "Wow Miles, I didn't know you could style hair." Bass said smirking at his friends messy mop.

"I've been braiding Charlie's hair since she was three, she refused to let anyone else do it when she was a kid so I had to get pretty good at it." He said sticking his tongue out at Bass. "And why would I need to style my own hair when I can roll out of bed and look this good."

Charlie laughed at the banter between them, the three of them didn't spend that much time together at work so it was nice to see them so relaxed. She saw the horses being led towards them and tried to stand up only to have a hand firmly push her back down by the top of her head. "Dammit Charlie would you sit still, you've got so much hair it takes a minute. Just relax the horses aren't going anywhere." Charlie just huffed and sat still while Bass laughed.

The guide asked if they were all experienced riders and a resounding yes was sounded back at him, Bass suspected the Greek man wasn't as skilled though, he was giving the horses a weird look.

They were each handed the reins of their own horse and Charlie wasted no time mounting hers, a beautiful white horse speckled with grey spots. Bass' own horse was taller and brown with blonde spots, Miles' horse was just plain brown with a black diamond on its forehead.

The guide now known as Jackson told them the names of their horses as he went by and adjusted the stirrups as needed. Charlie's was Carlotta, Bass was riding Dez and Miles was riding a horse who's name turned out to mean Meatball in english.

Charlie laughed until she noticed the glare that Miles was giving her, turning away she looked to Jackson for instructions. "So just so you know, you two." He said pointing at Charlie and Bass. "Your horses are friends, If one of your horses stops the other will get it going again, so don't be surprised if they nudge each other a lot or get really close together."

Charlie looked back at Bass and smiled. "Guess we should stick together."

Bass smiled back as his horse wandered up and nudged it's nose against her horses neck. "Guess so."

Jackson gave two sharp whistles and the horses started to follow down the road. The path they took started along the side of the ranches on the road, they talked and pointed out the horses and cows they saw along the way. Jackson's horse veered off into the trees and they followed close behind. They went up and down narrow paths leading in all sorts of seemingly mindless directions.

It wasn't until they reached the first river crossing that Charlie and Bass finally understood how close their horses were. Dez made it about two feet into the water before he stopped and refused to go father regardless of Bass' urging and patting, Carlotta swiftly made her way into the river barely hesitating before bumping her nose against his back leg getting him moving again, slowly but moving.

Miles' horse on the other hand had also stopped, but had stopped in the middle of the river and had its head dunked in while Miles sat helplessly waiting for it to finish its drink. "Guys!" Miles complained. "Don't leave me behind!" He wiggled in his seat trying to get the horse moving again.

Charlie and Bass turned in the saddles to watched Miles squirm and wiggle annoyed while they laughed. They were told before that the horses didn't understand english so even with the coaxing and sweet talk Miles wasn't going anywhere.

The second guide they had following behind went and sat with Miles while Meatball drank his fill. Bass and Charlie continued on with Jackson, twisting and turning down the paths they all got soaked from the amount of times the crossed the river.

At one point Charlie's horse lost its balance and she was tossed into the freezing water bellow, Bass didn't hesitate, he pulled his horse around and went back into the water, he jumped off his horse and pulled her out of the water.

Charlie was laughing hysterically, she wasn't hurt just completely from head to foot soaked and ask she looked at Bass' worried face she laughed harder. "I'm fine, I swear I'm just wet, and now so are you." She said pointing to his now drenched jeans, he looked down and laughed with her.

"Come on, let get you back up." He said grinning at her, he held her horse still as he hauled herself back up and into the saddle, her horse wasted no time and hurried out of the water on to the bank with Charlie still grinning like an idiot as she watched Bass struggle to get back up in his now heavy jeans.

When they finally managed to trudge through and catch up to Jackson, Miles gave them an odd look as both parties appeared and both being soaked through. "We only have a little bit left of this half of the riding then we're going to hike a little bit." Jackson said getting the group moving again.

They finally reached a flat area where the river ran calmly by and a set of scary steep looking stairs lead upwards. Everyone dismounted and Jackson handed out bottles of water to them, Charlie chugged hers and looked up at the stairs.

"This could be interesting." She said eyeing the uneven steps warily.

"Why's that?" Bass asked stepping up beside her and capping his bottle.

"Because she's horribly afraid of heights that's why." Miles explained stepping up to her other side. "Don't worry about it Charlie, we're both here it's not like we're going to let you fall."

"Shit that's right..." Bass remembered back to the day before and the chat they had before the flight. "How about Miles walks in front of you and I'll keep behind, if you do happen to slip I'll catch you." Bass said with a smile.

Miles nodded at her reassuringly, "We got this kid don't even worry." Miles patted her on the head as he stepped towards the stairs.

The group slowly made their way up the winding staircase Bass every now and then brushing his hand on her back to reassure her that he was still there, every time he did he saw the tension release from her shoulders.

When they finally reached their destination Charlie bent over huffing in exhaustion. "God those were a lot of stairs!" She exclaimed flopping down on a rock.

Bass and Miles laughed and sat with her. The hike had lead them to a waterfall with a pool beneath it that they were told they could swim in if they wanted. Bass looked towards the cool water and stood up, reaching out a hand to Charlie he grinned at her.

"What?" She asked not knowing why she was grinning back.

"Want to go for a swim?" He asked his hand stretched out towards her.

Charlie gave him a skeptical look, "I didn't bring anything to swim in."

Bass laughed and tugged her off the rock, "So what? We're both soaked anyways, or did you forget that you fell in the river?"

Charlie laughed and pushed him ahead of her. "Lead the way." Bass hopped down the rocks and landed in the pool of water, it came up to his knees. Turning towards Charlie he checked to see if she was still following, she'd stopped on the rock closest to the water without actually being in the water and was peering into the blue water.

"You coming in, or are you willing the water to disappear?" He asked hands on his hips.

She crossed her arms and stared him down, "give me some time please, I don't know what's in this water, could be cold for all I know." She was taken by surprise as Bass waded back to her and lifted her over his shoulder and back out into the middle of the pool. "Sebastian Monroe! You will put me down this instant!" She shrieked, she immediately regretted her choice of words as they tumbled out of her mouth.

Bass laughed and pulled her down into his arms. "What ever you say M'dear." With a grin he hurled her into the water. She resurfaced sputtering water and looking extremely put out.

"You are so going to pay for that." She threatened tossing her braid back over her shoulder. The next half hour was spent pushing each other into the water or splashing from 5 feet away, laughter being the soundtrack to their juvenile fun.

The rest of the ride was uneventful, they made it back to the ranch and had the best taco's they had ever tasted in their lives, Miles sat between the bickering duo and drank himself silly with the free booze.

"Would you two shut up?" Miles pleaded leaning back in his chair, a melting margarita in his hand. "I don't care who stole what food from who but I swear to god I toss you both off the cliff if you don't stop."

Charlie and Bass just smiled at him and apologized. "Sorry grandpa." She snickered.

Miles rolled his eyes and downed the last of his drink. The shuttled arrived to take them all back to their hotels and Miles sprang out of his seat. "You two can sit next to each other this time, I don't need to play ref anymore." He pointed at the two and climbed into the van.

Bass looked down at the smiling Charlie and shrugged, they climbed into the van Bass by the window this time. As they traveled back to the hotel Charlie realized just how tired she was when her bounced off Bass shoulder startling her awake. "Sorry." She mumbled in embarrassment.

Bass didn't reply by he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and let her lean into him, Charlie took the invite and dozed the rest of the trip back.

After they got back everyone parted ways to shower and nap, they met up a few hours later for dinner and drinks, by then Danny, Ben, and Rachel were back.

"Did you guys have fun?" Rachel asked taking a seat next to Charlie.

"Had a great time." Bass smiled answering for a full mouthed Charlie who nodded in agreement.

"That's good." Ben smiled pulling up a chair next to his brother. Danny flopped down into a chair next to Bass and swiped his plate of food.

"Call it pay back." He said smiling as he bit into an asparagus spear. "You guys should totally do the zip lining." He said pointing his spear at them. "It was pretty amazing."

Bass smacked him and took his plate back. "Get your own food kid." He said scooting his chair closer to Charlie and turning away from Danny's grabby hands. "Miles deal with your nephew." Bass pleaded.

Miles stood rolling his eyes and grabbed Danny by the back of his shirt hauling him out of his chair. "Come on kid." Miles pushed Danny ahead of him while he flailed his arms feebly.

After three hours of bickering, joking and stories about the day, the group had moved back to the spot by the beach they had, had the night before, and like the night before Bass and Charlie were the only two left after everyone else had turned in.

"Look's like its just us again." Bass said stepping up handing her a drink, she smiled up at him and sipped her newly acquired drink.

"This is delicious what is it?" Charlie asked sipping more.

"Mango daiquiri, I thought something fruity would be a nice change to the whiskey coke's Miles was getting you." He said kicking his feet up on the low stone wall.

Charlie smiled into her drink, Bass had been sweet and funny with her all day she was happy to have his company for an evening again. "appreciated." She laughed at his grin. "I may be a Matheson but even I have a whiskey limit."

Bass sipped his own drink and watched the ocean in front of him, occasionally he'd glance her way a smile tugging on his lips every time. "So you have plans for your late night?" He asked casually.

"I was thinking I might watch a movie, the english channel they have here is marathoning movies every night." Charlie explained straightening a little in her chair.

Bass couldn't help the disappointment that crossed his face. "Oh." He dropped his feet to the sandy pavement. "That'll be a nice relaxing way to end the day, maybe I'll do the same." He shuffled his feet a little before standing.

"Do you want to watch a movie together?" Charlie blurted out. Bass looked down at her, he noticed the pink flush to her face but chalked it up to the heat. Smiling he held out his hand and pulled her up from her chair.

"I would love to."

Charlie ducked her head and smiled as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders leading her up to their floor. They stopped in front of his door and he looked down at her, "You want to watch in your room or mine?"

"Umm... Yours is fine, it's right here I mean." She said flushing and bringing her cup up to her lips trying to cover it.

Bass looked at her questioning. "You sure?"

"Mhm." She replied smiling. Bass stepped away dropping his arm from her shoulders and unlocked the door, stepping through the door he stopped abruptly and Charlie nearly crashed into his back.

"Stay here a second." He said turning around and closing the door slightly, running around he cleaned up his mess from when they got back, he called her in and Charlie pushed the door open gently. "Sorry I forgot I left a mess after my shower." He said sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

Charlie just smiled. "That's ok, I probably did to."

Bass sat on the edge of the bed and grabbed the remote. "You can come sit you know, I won't bite." Bass felt ridiculous, she was making him feel like a stupid teenager and all she was doing and standing by his bed.

Charlie laughed and crawled up on to the bed. "It's channel seventy-eight." She said sitting next to him on her knees.

He flicked on the tv and found the channel, he sat on the end of the bed for a minute before deciding that he needed to get comfortable and suck it up. He scooted back until he was leaning against the headboard, Charlie followed suit and sat with her knees tucked under her.

Half an hour after the movie started Charlie had started to doze, she'd snuggled down on to the bed so she was lying sideways on it the top of her head brushing against his thigh. Looking down at the girl beside he absently brushed his fingers through her hair and closed his eyes.

**Let me know what you think! More love means more inspiration!**


	4. Day 3

**My Lovlies! Sorry for the delay, but I have to write what comes to me and unfortunately I knew from the beginning of this one that it was going to be a slow go, so bare with me and we'll get there. Read on you beautiful people **

Charlie stretched out her arms above her head, she hadn't fallen asleep so early in so long. Moving to roll on her back she finally noticed the warm arms wrapped around her middle, in her movement she was pulled backwards and she felt warm breath on the back of her neck.

She'd be lying if she said she wasn't surprised, but mildly thrilled at the idea of waking up with Bass Monroe wrapped around her. She couldn't move due to his arms being firmly twined around her middle, and the feel of his face being snuggled into her neck was sending shivers down her spine. She was wondering out to get out of his grasp when she heard him yawn.

"Morning sunshine." Charlie whispered with humour in her voice.

Bass snuggled into the warm body wrapped in his arms with a satisfied sigh before he realised he fell asleep with Charlie in his bed, his eyes snapped open and he sat up nearly tossing her on the floor.

Charlie rolled to the other side of the giant bed and started to laugh. "Well that's one way to wake up." She said sitting up.

"Sorry." He said rubbing his hand down his face. "I completely just molested you in my sleep." He said holding his hand over his eyes.

Charlie reached out and pulled his hand down. "Bass seriously? We're both completely clothed, we just fell asleep it's fine." She said grinning at his distress.

"But I wrapped you up like you were a teddy bear that's so not ok." He said his face completely washed in worry.

Charlie crossed her arms. "There are worse ways to wake up, and not once have I complained so how about you relax and just go with it ok."

Bass looked at her smiling face and did as told, he always felt so relaxed when she was around, but he also felt so tense, like if he said or did the wrong thing she would destroy him. "All right, I'll try."

"Good." She said beaming at him. "Now, I'm really hungry and I think the buffet is open. let's go see what kind of food they have going this morning."

"I can completely agree with that. But I'm going to get changed first." He said hopping off the bed.

"Want me to wait outside?" She asked moving to get up.

Bass moved around the bed clean clothes in hand. "No, you can stay, I'll get changed in the bathroom. If it's ok I think I'm going to take a quick shower actually." He said gently pushing her back down on the bed.

"For sure, I'll see what the english channel has to offer." She said looking up at him with a small smile.

"I'll be quick." He said smiling back at her, he turned and disappeared into the bathroom.

After the door clicked shut Charlie reached over the bed and grabbed the remote off Bass' night stand, she was just starting to flick through the channels when a knock came at the door, getting up Charlie padded over to the door and opened it.

"Bass." Miles said not looking up from the map in his hand, he pushed the door open and stepped through.

Charlie stood back and smiled at her uncle. "Not Bass." Charlie said leaning her back against the wall. "He's in the shower."

"Charlie? What are you doing in here? Isn't this Bass' room?" He asked holding the door open and looking at the number on it.

"Yes, it is. We were going to get breakfast, he told me to wait." She said, it wasn't a lie, but she wasn't about to make Miles worry by telling him she'd been there all night.

Miles looked at her dumbfounded. "Uh.. I guess I'll... Uh... See you downstairs then..." He said in a daze as he exited the room closing the door behind him.

Charlie laughed as she sat back down on the bed, she reached for the remote again when the door to the bathroom opened. "Who was that?" Bass asked towelling off his hair.

"Miles. He thought he came in the wrong room, I think he wanted to ask you something." She said laughing. "He got all confused though and left, said he'd see us downstairs." She leaned back on the bed as she watched him run his fingers through his now sticky-uppy hair. "So I think maybe, perhaps you should put a shirt on and we can go see what he wants." She said smirking at his once again bare chest.

"Yah, yah. Miles can wait two minutes." He said laughing. He rummaged around in his bag and pulled out a light green t-shirt. "How's this?" He asked pulling the shirt over his head and presenting it to her.

"Looks good to me." She got off the bed and followed him out of the room. The two made their way down the stairs bumping shoulders occasionally as they bounced their way down.

"Hey wait." Bass said stopping a step bellow her. "What did you tell him when he came in?"

Charlie cocked her head to the side and smiled. "I told him that we spent the whole night having wild crazy sex, that's why I was in your room." She almost didn't make it through her sentence without bursting into laughter at his horrified face. "I'm kidding Bass, I told him we were going to get some breakfast and you told me to wait, which is completely true."

Bass leaned into the railing as he sighed with relief. "You can't scare an old man like that!" He said grinning at her.

"But it's just to much fun." She said sweetly as she tried to look innocent. "And for the record, you're not an old man." She winked at him and hopped down the rest of the stairs.

Bass watched after her bobbing head as it disappeared around the corner, just as he was about to start down the stairs Charlie's head popped back around the corner. "You coming?"

He jumped down the last steps and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "You're as impatient as your uncle ." He said looking down at her as they walked. "Come on let's go see what he wants.

Charlie and Bass hadn't even settled into their seats when Miles pounced on Bass. "Hey, so there was this jet-ski thing down the beach that Danny wanted to do, you wanna come?" He asked sipping his morning mimosa. "You can come to obviously." He pointed at Charlie.

Charlie shook her head. "I was thinking about just hanging by the pool today, might do some drawing." She took a sip of Miles' drink as she continued. "You guys go ahead, I feel like a day in the sun." She smiled as Miles swiped his drink back.

"Alright, but don't say we didn't offer." Miles smiled at his niece.

Bass leaned back in his chair. "I can stay if you want, I think your mom said something about going into town for the day with your dad, so its just gonna be you."

She shook her head. "I'm really okay." She said smiling at Bass. "It'll be nice to have some quiet away from Danny and Miles, or as I've dubbed them The Destruction Duo."

Bass laughed as Miles scowled. "It's not my fault your brother is a giant pain in my ass."

"It kind of is your fault, where do you think he learned all the tricks and annoying habits he has?" Charlie asked crossing her arms and grinning at her uncle.

"Hardly, I'm a perfect Angel and you know it." He smirked back at her before sipping his drink.

"Ha!" Charlie laughed throwing her head back. "You Miles Matheson are anything but an angel, but if it helps you sleep at night you go right on believing what you want."

Bass threw a hand to his mouth trying to cover his laughter. "God Miles, she's got you pegged."

Miles shot Bass a glare. "Shut up."

"Are you guys going or not?" She asked amused.

"Yah I'll go." Bass said standing. "Let's go find the brat." He smiled down at Charlie. "See you later."

Miles and Bass vacated the restaurant and left Charlie sitting smiling after them, she waved when Miles looked back to wink at her.

Two hours later Charlie was sitting on one of the pool lounge chairs a drink sitting next to her chair balanced on a pile of sketch books. Her headphones were in listening to music as she sketched the world around her. She was humming along to a song completely immersed in her drawing that she didn't notice Bass had seated himself on the chair next to her.

He leaned over her shoulder watching her sketch out a little boy splashing his mother with a big grin on his face, he almost didn't want to take her out of the trance she seemed to be in, but he suddenly felt like he was intruding and needed to say something. Reaching a hand out he tapped her on the shoulder, he laughed as Charlie nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Jesus Bass! You scared the shit out of me." Charlie said ripping her headphones out. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be out on the water still?" She turned towards him clutching her sketchbook.

"Miles had an accident, we had to call it a day." He said observing her picture more closely.

Charlie looked at him stunned. "Is he okay?" Her voice filling with concern.

"Yah, he's fine. He just fell off and got pretty banged up, he's with Danny." He explained reassuring her. "I had to leave, listening to those two was getting to be tiring."

"I know the feeling, try growing up with that." Charlie laughed. "So you decided to come find me? Boring." She smiled at him.

"You said you were going to draw, I wanted to see what it was that makes you happy." He smiled back at her. "And from what I can see here you're really talented." He said nodding towards the pad in her hands.

Charlie blushed at the compliment. "Thanks. But this is just sketching, the finished product I hope will be a lot better then this."

"I'm sure it will be." He reached out a hand. "Can I see it?"

She nodded and handed over the pad. "Just don't judge to hard, the down fall to being an artist we tend to take criticism badly." She chuckled.

Bass huffed a small laugh and studied her drawing, the swirls in the water and the smile on the toddlers face he could almost hear the laughter coming off the page. He lifted the page to see if there was anything on the page bellow, and his breath hitched in his chest. "Charlie this is amazing." Bass said flipping the paper over fully.

Charlie's eyes snapped up from her iPod as Bass held out the paper, she snatched it away from him. "You... you weren't supposed to see that one..." She said quietly.

"Why not?" He asked confused. "Charlie it's really good." He emphasised taking the pad back, he looked down at a picture of himself, he was sitting on his horse from yesterday grinning and from what it appeared soaking wet.

Charlie's face had gone a darker shade of red. "Because it's weird to draw people you know without them knowing." She turned away from him.

"So? I'm flattered you wanted to draw me." Bass' eyes roamed the paper. "You made me younger I appreciate that." He laughed. "Was this before or after the falls?"

"Before, after you pulled me out of the river you had this huge grin on your face, all I thought about was how much I wanted to capture that happiness..." She trailed off at the end.

"Can I have it?" He asked handing the pad back to her. "When you finish it can I have it? I'd love to have a Matheson original." He smiled at her stunned face. "I know it's a picture of me, but it's really good."

She couldn't really form words so she nodded at him silently. Bass laughed and leaned back on the chair. "Cool, I'm looking forward to it. You can go back to what you were doing if you want, I'm beat so I might just take a nap in the sun." He closed his eyes and folded his hands over his stomach, he wasn't aware how ever that Charlie was still staring at him stunned.

She rested back in her chair glancing back at him now and again, she was finding him incredibly distracting being this close. Before she knew what she was doing she was turned towards him and sketching his sleeping form.

She worked from the bottom up, his crossed legs up to his slender folded fingers resting on his flat stomach up to his broad chest and shoulders, up his throat to his tilted chin. She drew the curve of his slightly smiling mouth, the slope of nose, his cheek bones, the curve of his strong jaw lightly dusted with stubble, when she reached his eyes she was surprised to see that he was watching her apparently not as asleep as she thought he was. He didn't move or speak though he just watched her as she resumed drawing his clear smiling eyes. She was so immersed in her work that she didn't think about the fact that he was intently watching her. She looped the pencil on the paper working on the soft curls she was trying to not imagine herself digging her fingers in.

When she finished she set her pad down on her knee and looked up at him, all embarrassment from earlier gone, she just smiled at him and tilted her head. He smiled back and sat up, his feet hit the pavement and he slid down his seat until his knees locked hers between them.

His hands moved until they were resting on her knees, she moved her paper off her knee onto the chair as she watched his face, she was so very aware of every move he made, but made none of her own. Moving closer to her he raised both hands off her knees and rested them gently on either side of her face, his blue eyes searched hers, looking for something, permission maybe, she didn't know but she didn't move, she just looked up at him her heart hammering in her chest.

One of his hands slid into her long blonde hair gently pulling her towards himself, when she made no move to pull away or protest he brought his face down to hers and ghosted a soft kiss across her lips, as if testing the waters he pulled away slightly to gauge her reaction, her eyes were wide but not in fear, in anticipation. He pressed his lips to hers again with more pressure, she responded in kind and kissed him back, he heard the clatter of her sketch pad hitting the pavement as her hands reached up and grasped at his forearms holding him tightly.

He pulled back and smiled at her. "Well...That's not really how I imagined our first kiss." He chuckled softly.

Charlie smirked at him as his hands dropped to rest at the base of her neck. "You imagined kissing me?" She replied.

Looking down at her he felt his heart going a million miles a minute. "Maybe a few times, but I never really had the courage to act on it, but when I watched to drawing me I couldn't think of anything else. I've never seen anything so beautiful in my life, you looked so content, so happy and I couldn't help myself."

"It's ok by me." She grinned. "I hope it was worth the wait though."

"More then worth it." He said drawing her close again.

Bass didn't get the chance to kiss her again as a cough interrupted them. Bass turned as Charlie's face drained of colour, behind him stood Danny, his arms crossed over his chest a smirk on his face. "Well, well what do we have here?" He asked tapping his foot.

Bass pulled his hands away from Charlie and fully turned towards him. "Uh..." Was all he could say though.

Charlie laughed and picked up her book. "Listen up, you saw nothing or I'm going to tell Miles what happened to his car last year when you came to visit, Kapishe?"

Danny raised his hands smirk still in place. "I'm not judging, you guys can do what ever the hell you want, your both adults. I'm just suggesting maybe if you don't want to get murdered in Mexico you don't make-out in public places."

"I'll take it under advisement." Charlie said staring at her brother. "Did you come over here for a reason?"

Danny crossed his arms again. "Yah, Mom and Dad are back. Said something about having gotten stuff for us, they want to meet us all for dinner in a couple hours, you think you two can rein it in by then?" Danny laughed and darted away as Charlie threw a pencil at him. "I'll see you guys at dinner." And with that he sprinted away from them.

"He's right you know." Bass said turning to Charlie a smile on his face. "Maybe the pool wasn't such a great place for that."

"I'm not scared of them. Besides a kiss doesn't mean were getting married." Charlie said diplomatically.

"True." He smiled at her. "But it's not exactly an activity I want to give up at this moment, so maybe... I'll see you later tonight after dinner? Walk on the beach?"

Charlie gathered up her supplies and shot him a smile. "Are you asking me on a date Mr. Monroe?"

"Maybe, maybe that will be decided tonight." He stood up next to her taking some of her teetering books from her hands. "Until then, let's make nice with the family and attempt to forget this for now."

Charlie reached out her hand and pulled on his shirt bringing his face down to her level. "I'll forget that you kissed me just as soon as the world ends." She smirked and kissed him again ever so lightly as she took her books back. "I'll see you at dinner." She leaned back and left a grinning Bass standing by the pool.

Later at dinner the group was sitting around the table waiting for Charlie and Danny. Charlie showed up first, her hair was down in loose curls tied loosely with a clip to one side, a long flowing white skirt, and a light blue tank top that complimented her eyes. Bass' breath nearly escaped him when he saw her walk through the arch towards them, she sat in the chair beside him leaving the empty chair next to Miles for Danny.

Dinner commenced pretty uneventfully, Rachel and Ben dispensed new clothes to Danny and Charlie that they had found in town and shared stories of where they should go if they want to go. Bass took the opportunity to lean across Charlie and grab the salt shaker to whisper in her ear. "You look beautiful."

Charlie smirked and tried not to let her glee show through as Miles looked their way and nodded at them smiling, completely unaware that Charlie had slipped a hand on Bass' knee. "Careful, or I'm going to kiss you right here." Bass Whispered behind his hand that he had just decided to lean on. Charlie just smiled and removed her hand.

As the other nights were an indication, Charlie and Bass were left at the end of the night sitting by the beach. It was Charlie who broke the silence. "So... You don't regret what happened earlier do you?" She asked quietly, she didn't know why but she was suddenly extremely self conscious.

Bass turned towards her and grabbed her hands. "Never." He whispered. "Not if you don't, I know it was a fast move but like I said, you were beautiful, and you still are." He tried to reassure her through his heart stopping smile.

"Good." Charlie moved off her chair into his lap. "Then kiss me again." Bass did as told and kissed her softly, before pulling away. "You interested in that walk on the beach?" He asked running his hand along her hair pulling the clip out.

"Most definitely." Charlie said smiling. Bass stood, lifting Charlie with him then setting her down.

"Let's go." He held out his hand for her to take, when she slid her fingers between his they set off down the beach, walking, and talking about their lives.

Later that night, Bass walked her up to her room and stopped outside. "I think tonight we should sleep alone." He said brushing the backs of his fingers along her cheek.

"Probably, I'll see you in the morning though?" She asked leaning her cheek into his touch as she looked up at him.

"Of course, I'll come get you for breakfast?" He asked leaning her against her door.

"Okay." She smiled softly at him. "I had a really nice time tonight, thank you. And thank you for letting me draw you earlier."

"I had a really nice time to. For the record, you can draw me any time." He grinned and leaned down to kiss her one last time. "Now go to bed before I change my mind."

"Night Bass." Charlie said opening her door and slipping behind it.

"Night Charlie." Bass said raising a hand in a half wave. He turned and walked down the hall a smile that wouldn't quit on his face.

Charlie mean while skipped to her bed and flopped down on it smiling fiercely, tonight was a good night and she was going to sleep like a baby knowing Bass was down the hall thinking about her the way she was thinking about him.

**I hope you loved this and much as I loved writitng it!, this kissyness came a chapter sooner then I thought it would but I couldn't resist! So leave me a review/comment/Pm and I'll see you in a couple days with another update somewhere :)**


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